Former Coronation Street star also claimed she had the 'best time ever' while filming abroad.

Michelle Keegan in the role of Corporal Georgie Lane in the army drama, One GirlBBC

The new series of BBC1 army drama Our Girl airs next (Wednesday) 7 September and will introduce a new corporal in the lead role: Georgie Lane, played by Michelle Keegan.

The hype surrounding the highly-anticipated instalment has truly heightened over the past few months and – having attended the press screening for the gripping first episode followed by a Q&A with the cast – IBTimes UK can confirm it was worth the wait.

Keegan has a big pair of army boots to fill after EastEnders star Lacey Turner returned to Albert Square following her lead role in the first series of Our Girl.

In the show, strong-headed and gutsy medic Georgie joins the aesthetically-pleasing Captain James (Ben Aldridge) for a humanitarian mission on the Kenya/Somalia border.

Keegan revealed there will be a love triangle between Georgie and her co-stars, one of whom happens to be Luke Pasqualino – who plays Elvis – while the other is a doctor she is dating back home.

Though not able to divulge too much, Keegan said: "There is a love triangle throughout the whole series. It's basically a question of 'who is she going to pick at the end?'

"I don't think it's ever like, she loves one more than the other. They are totally different situations and relationships. But we'll see who she ends up choosing," she added.

Within minutes of arriving at the biggest refugee camp in the world in Kenya, Keegan's character is thrown into the deep end in a hostile environment – and the icing on the cake? Georgie is also surrounded by sexist soldiers.

She is also forced to extract a child's tooth which is brimming with maggots during episode one, and Keegan revealed how she dealt with the gruesome scene She said: "Luckily, we used rice in that scene. I was actually nowhere near the maggots.

"I think they did a cutaway of a maggot on Sean's (Gallagher) hand – that I wasn't around for thank God, because it would have made me feel sick. But I've never liked maggots and never will!"

On filming in the exotic yet far away location of South Africa, the actress did nothing but gush about her time away from home. She said: "I had the best, best time. We were there for two months, and I was thinking 'I'm going to get homesick in like a week', but I am not joking, I loved every single second of it. It was a life experience for me – I had the best time ever."